offandonguy

Hi, I recently purchased a 2012 TL Tech Package and have been playing around with the paddle shifters and noticed they don't always work. More specifically they don't always work while in drive, they work fine in sport. It seems almost 50/50 that when in drive if I want to downshift to get a little extra power that the car will actually respond to the - paddle. I'm talking about shifting when at 2500/3k RPM, so I don't think it's the computer being over protective. Am I missing something, does anyone have experience with this? The car had the Torque Converter TSB done right before I bought it, I wonder if there's something Acura changed with the programming as a result of that? Thanks for any help!

dopeboy1

I don't specifically know the answer to the question but when in drive its going to want to be in a higher gear for fuel efficiency. I've never tried to use the paddles in drive, I assumed drive was drive and sport was sport. I've always just shifted from drive to sport if I want to shift down.

offandonguy

Thanks for the reply. The owner's manual says you can use the paddles to shift up or down while in drive so I know it's supposed to work; I also have a 2016 MDX and it let's you shift in drive too. I just can't figure out why it isn't doing it consistently.

dopeboy1

just curious do you know what gears you are shifting from? is there a certain gear it doesn't want to shift down to?

offandonguy

You don't really know what gear you're shifting from until you pull the paddle, then it will show the gear you just shifted into in the little LCD in the tach. I know you can't go from 1st to 2nd or vice versa but that's the only limitation I know of.

illistik

That's weird. I use my paddle shifters while in Drive and they respond and work every time.

justnspace

iTrader: (1)

are you trying to shift down?! maybe it wont let you shift down at that low of RPM so it wont lug the engine

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

From what I've gathered, the ECU has specific RPM points where it won't let you up-shift of down-shift since if it would result in the engine being too high or low in the RPM range. Obviously this is to protect the engine. Probably the transmission as well.

I know what you're talking about though, although I almost never manually shift in drive since the ECU just takes over after that and shifts back into whatever gear it determines is best. I can see the sense in downshifting if you're passing but I just give it more gas which automatically downshifts anyways. I'm in manual mode 90%+ percent of the time anyway (in a pathetic attempt to pretend that I still have a manual ) so that isn't a common occurrence.

When you try to shift, does the number on the display flash? Or does it just not respond? Normally the number will flash if it refuses to go into that gear, signaling that the gear you're wanting to switch to is outside the safe RPM band.

offandonguy

Hey, I know what you mean, before the family came along I always had manual cars so it definitely feels frustrating some times not having more control over the car.

The number doesn't flash though, it just doesn't do anything sometimes unless I try to downshift 3 or 4 times. I just took a lunch break and it worked every time accept right after the car up shifted to 3rd. So, I was in D like normal, the car went through 1st, 2nd and 3rd on its own and I tried to downshift right after the car automatically shifted into 3rd and nothing happened. I'm beginning to suspect it's something with down shifting into 2nd, maybe due to Acuras 's torque converter software change.

RenoTL

This. I don't use the paddles all that often in Drive but when I do, they always respond quickly to the gear change (both up and down shifting).

illistik

When you downshift, a number will appear telling you what gear you're currently in. You can freely upshift/downshift during this time with no restrictions. Once the number goes away, the automatic transmission takes over again.

offandonguy

I just wanted to post an update because as is true with so many things in life, I have to chalk this one up to user error. I discovered that sometimes, in anticipation of a down shift, I was pressing the gas pedal before hitting the paddle. The result is that when I increase the throttle the car downshifts automatically (you know, like it's supposed to) so when I hit the paddle the car ignored it because it had just downshifted and was evidently too close to my last shift. So mystery solved, lesson learned. Thank you all for the replies!

losiglow

iTrader: (1)

Good to hear. I've had that happen too. Didn't think to mention it